why do I have to drink ginger tea?’ asked Ruby. ‘It’s you Crews who are the ones harbouring the plague.’
‘Who knows who it will strike next; you go down sick, there’s more of a chance I go down sick, and I don’t want to go down sick. Christmas is my favourite time of year.’
Ruby sipped her ginger tea. When Clancy was in this frame of mind it was easier to fall in behind than argue it through.
‘By the way, long time no hear,’ said Clancy.
‘I wrote you: you didn’t get my postcards?’
‘I got ’em,’ said Clancy. He thought for a moment. ‘How come you typed them?’
‘I didn’t want anyone to recognise my handwriting,’ said Ruby.
‘Is that why you signed them Aunt Mabel?’ asked Clancy.
‘I was trying to keep incognito.’
‘Well, it brought up a few questions with my mom, I can tell you that.’
‘What was she doing reading your postcards?’ said Ruby.
‘People read other people’s postcards,’ said Clancy. ‘They’re postcards, no envelopes, the mailman can read them if he chooses to, I mean if he happens to be particularly bored.’
‘So,’ said Ruby, ‘what did she want to know?’
‘Why this Aunt Mabel, who she didn’t know even existed, was recommending thermal socks. I mean if you were planning on using a code then why didn’t you use the regular one?’
‘Because if I had written a postcard in gobbledegook then that would have looked really suspicious. This way it looks like I am writing to you about normal stuff.’
‘Since when is it normal for an aunt who doesn’t even exist to write me about thermal socks?’
‘OK, you have a point, I went too much into character, but can we get back to the point?’
‘Which is?’
‘I did keep in touch.’
‘But you didn’t tell me anything, not really, only that something had happened and it was hard to explain in writing.’
‘Well, it was.’
‘In that case, why didn’t you call?’
‘It wasn’t so easy,’ said Ruby, biting into one of the donuts. ‘They had this whole lockdown thing going.’
‘Since when was Genius Camp so high-security?’
‘It was more like boot camp, if you really wanna know – anyone caught out of their study area or generally not complying with mathletics rules was threatened with disqualification.’
‘Seriously?’ asked Clancy.
‘You bet seriously,’ said Ruby. ‘I mean, you had to ask to use the payphone – you know it actually had a padlock on it.’
‘When did you ever take notice of petty rules? Or locks for that matter … Plus I thought you would have wanted to be disqualified and get sent home early.’
‘I thought about it, believe me, but then you know I felt bad for my mom and dad. For some reason having a daughter who is a major dork brainiac means something to them.’
‘That was your reason for staying?’ said Clancy. ‘Since when do you care so much about your parents’ dreams of a “show and tell daughter”? Forgive me, but I just don’t buy that.’
‘OK, so not just that. I had my reasons for sticking around, and one of them was the Pink Pixie. I swear I woulda walked had it not been for that box of crackers.’
‘You mean Dakota Lyme?’
‘Yeah, her,’ said Ruby. ‘Boy, she was so crazy for winning, her eyes almost popped out of her face – you remember how she tried to injure that kid, Ward Partial?’
‘Yeah, I read about that,’ said Clancy. ‘Don’t tell me she did it again.’
Ruby nodded her head. ‘Only worse this time. That poor Partial kid was at breaking point. You know, for a dweeb he’s actually kinda OK, plus he’s only eleven. He can’t handle the pressure.’
Clancy nodded. ‘So what happened?’
‘I’ll tell you some other time, but suffice to say, I stuck it out.’
‘You know what?’ said Clancy.
‘What?’ said Ruby.
‘You’re all heart.’
Ruby took a big slug of her drink. ‘Well, I couldn’t abandon him, could I? Let her go ahead and make mincemeat of him while I swanned off back to Twinford. You know what, this ginger tea’s not bad.’
‘What is bad is the hogwash you’re spouting,’ said Clancy. ‘Would you quit feeding me this garbage and actually tell me why you left town?’
Clancy had a way of sniffing out the baloney, and he knew there was more to Ruby’s little math vacation than the tale she had been telling him. Since when was it necessary for her, the brightest kid in Twinford Junior High, to go away for a four-week intensive math and science camp?
Ruby looked him dead in the eye, plucked a serviette from the dispenser and carefully wiped her hands.
‘You promise not to get all flappy?’
‘Why would I get flappy?’ replied Clancy.
‘OK,’ she said, ‘if you want to know so bad, I’ll tell you.’
Clancy waited.
‘It was all down to Hitch. It was him who was keen I should go, it was him who came up with the idea and wanted me to hunker down at geek camp,’ said Ruby.
Clancy looked confused. ‘Hitch is interested in your mathematical development?’
‘Hitch is interested in me continuing to breathe,’ said Ruby, ‘and I’m kinda interested in the same thing. The geek camp was just a way of getting me away and out of Twinford while he assessed the situation and made things secure back home.’
‘Assessed what situation?’
‘The situation regarding who might want me dead.’
Clancy let go of his donut and it splashed into his tea.
‘Clance, are you OK?’
‘Hitch thinks you’re on some kinda hit list?’ said Clancy, his voice unsteady.
‘Well, maybe …’
